Imagination, commitment, and execution. Lessons from Elon Musk, Michio Kaku ft Lex Fridman

Introduction: Dreamers and engineers

Recently listening to some inspiring podcasts I was reminded of the power that is created with the right balance of vision, commitment and execution.

The challenge is that its so easy to live comfortably on one side of those traits, or the other. We find visionary creatives which are a Green/Yellow on a personality chart, and we find completer finishers powering through tasks who may be on the Blue / Red side. But when we read books like Think and Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill), The Secret (Rhonda Bryne), and perhaps most other personal development titles, to make astounding personal gains, both vision, commitment and execution are required.

I have always found this approach valuable. To lead with vision, but to turn that into tangible action, to get people inspired and wedded to the picture of the future we are trying to create, but then translate it into an achievable plan to bring people together to achieve it. It seems pretty basic, but I wanted to talk about the powerful subject and how it can be used to drive successful personal development, but also to achieve mammoth business tasks, win deals and deliver on major projects.

This post introduces Michio Kaku, theoretical phycisist, futurist and sci-fi dreamer, who you may not have come across before. Referencing his recent Lex Fridman podcast, it goes on to profile some of his dreams for the future of Humanity (and technology). The post then bring in Elon Musk, Chief Engineer of SpaceX, drawing out his inspiring characteristics and traits which make dreams become reality at pace.

Finally, I have reflected on my own approach to Vision, Commitment and Execution, an approach that I take with most strategic change programs, major technology bids, or disruptive innovation projects which I lead, giving some practical steps which you can potentially use to drive your own exponential progress.

I found the stories of Lex’ two guests, Michio Kaku and Elon Musk contrasting in approach, but complimentary in their impact, and somewhat connected. Without visionary thinkers and dreamers, perhaps Elon would not be sending rockets to Mars and conquering re-usable orbital rocketry, the key the scaling space exploration. Without Elon’s commitment and executional spirit, “get it done” attitude, and ability to “walk the walk” those dreams would not become a reality.

Vision: Michio Kaku – Theoretical Physicist, Author and Futurist

Michio Kaku is a renowned American theoretical physicist and futurist who is popularly known as an author, science journalist, and media personality. He is currently a professor of Theoretical Physics at the City University of New York (CUNY) as well as the co-founder of string field physics. He’s a clever guy!

As a renowned author, he has a passionate point of view on the future of lots of things. He’s a Physicist and understands in detail the basis of several concepts of this reality, but he’s also a dreamer. He immerses himself in the future and explores that this means for technology, people and the universe. He has an incredible ability to connect the dots and bring together a vision of the future, as is often seen by futurists and writers of science fiction.

A fun fact, his first book, Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe (with Jennifer Thompson) was actually published in 1987, the year I was born. Michio has more experience exploring the future than I have breathing!

If you’d like to learn about Michio’s perspectives on the future, check out the interview.

If you want to get stuck into the detail, check out his following books:

Michio Kaku on the Lex Fridman Podcast: The Future of Humans, Aliens, Space Travel & Physics

I first came across Michio in the fascinating interview with Lex Fridman below where he discusses the Future of Humans, Aliens, Space Travel & Physics. Firstly, if you’d like to check out Lex’s podcasts, and I recommend you do, head to https://lexfridman.com/ai.

In this mind-blowing hour, you can hear Michio expertly interviewed by Lex, passionately explore his views on Aliens, The Multiverse and Nirvana, String Theory, God, Brain Machine Interfaces, AI, Mortality and Space Travel.

Its pretty wild. But for anyone interested in the future of tech and how things may pan out over the next 10, 50 and 100 years, listen to the whole thing, its incredible.

Commitment and execution: Elon Musk – Chief Engineer of SpaceX

Elon Musk, a South African- born American technology entrepreneur is a name that most of us are fully aware of. Born June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, he originally co-founded x.com, which became Paypal and was sold to eBay for $1.5bn. He went on to found companies such as SpaceX, and to invest in and lead Tesla, the global electric vehicle company, as CEO.

Now one of the richest people in the world, its safe to say his approach has been highly successful. In this wonderful profile by Jill Lapore, his fascination with sci-fi can be cited as a major driver for Elon. Within the piece, Lapore points out some real-world clue as to Elon’s inspiration, with SpaceX’s first three drone ships’ names after ships found in Iain M Banks’ Culture series. Tesla’s Roadster carrying a 5D storage device (popularised in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series) and the first Starship to carry humans to Mars set to be named the Heart of Gold, inspired by Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Two more entertaining references include; Tesla’s latest S-Plaid, named for its extreme speed and referencing 1980’s comedy Spaceballs, and The Boring Company Flamethrower, some fantastic “Merchandise” citing the same film.

Elon Musk on the Lex Fridman podcast: SpaceX, Mars, Tesla Autopilot, Self-Driving, Robots and AI

Elon was also recently on the Lex Fridman Podcast, talking about SpaceX, Mars, Tesla, Self-Driving, Robots and AI. Within this brilliant podcast, you get a look into Elon’s perspective on what he’s focused on right now, and his thoughts on the direction on a number of technologies, including his own projects such as the mission to Mars. What I find incredible about Elon is his attitude balanced with work ethic and mind-set. He is obviously a genius (of engineering and business), having had multiple successful technology businesses, and climbing to a position as the wealthiest person in the world. But how did he get there? Its not by luck, his mindset is astounding and it really hit home to me in the clip below, talking about the mission to Mars and the creation of both the largest flying object the world has seen, and the creation of a fully re-usable orbital rocket.

Commitment: Quitting is not in my nature.

The following clip is around 4 minutes long and talks about the complexity of Starship and how Elon approaches such a mammoth task mentally .

If you cant watch the video, I’ll paraphrase Lex and Elon below.

In relation to the Mars Mission, and other tasks, Lex asks Elon:

“What is your source of belief, in situations like this? When the engineering problem is so difficult, there are a lot of experts, many of whom you admire, who have failed in the past. And a lot of people, you know, a lot of experts, maybe journalists, the public have a lot of doubt whether it is possible. And you yourself understand that it’s not an empty set of success, it is still unlikely, or very difficult. Where do you go to? personally, as an intellectual? as an Engineer, as a team? for a source of strength? To keep going with the project, to take it to completion?

Elon responds:
“A source of strength, hmm, that’s really not how I think about things, I mean for me simply this is something that is important to get done, and we should just keep doing it, or die trying. I don’t need a source of strength.

Lex:

“So quitting, it’s not erm like”

Elon:

“[Quitting] It’s not in my nature. and I don’t care about optimism or pessimism, Fuck that we’re gonna get it done”

Execution: “F that, we’re gonna get it done”

This hit home. Having been a fan of books including Relentless by Tim Grover, Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink, and Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, this is what brings together. The core components of astounding success. The connection of vision, planning, intelligence, first principles thinking, belief, accountability, ownership and commitment to get something done.

You can watch the full podcast with Lex and Elon below, which I highly recommend.

Vision, commitment and execution create powerful outcomes

So to summarise, and to bring together the reflections from Michio and Elon together (via Lex, thanks so much!)…

We need to create a vision for the future so that we can believe it is possible.

Once we have belief, we can commit and make it a reality.

Whether that’s an innovation, a new idea, a futuristic invention, or perhaps something closer to home. A project at work or home, a mission to get healthier, a plan to lose weight, or perhaps to reduce debt and increase your wealth.

You must have a vision, and you must be inspired and connected to it, believe it is “important” enough to get it done, commit.

Once you have that vision and it’s important enough, and are committed to its success, its down to execution.

What skills do you need to get there? Which problems do you need to solve? Which steps must you take? These are all important things but none of them are impossible and are just steps along the way.

Vision and commitment drive you through execution and unlock a hidden power to solve any problem.

If you need new skills, you can learn them or bring them in, if you need to overcome challenges or take things a few steps at a time, you can, but you must commit and you must keep going. Remember the vision, that is why you are doing this and why you will keep going.

I have used this approach throughout my life to overcome many challenges, from major financial objectives, major health missions (the journey from 22st down to 13!), hundreds of projects, and many MBA assignments.

I encourage you to explore this approach and to share it with your teams, at the start of your next pitch or project, create a shared vision of success. Ask each team member if they believe it is possible, and if not, tune the output, or increase their belief. Ask for commitment from the team to make it happen. Understand from them what success would mean to them. Remind them of this when times get tough and you need to bring them back together. When you achieve goals along the way, take a moment to reflect on the progress and how you are getting closer to your vision, and when you finally achieve it, be sure to reflect on the journey and celebrate success.

Final thoughts

If George Lucas hadn’t of dreamed up Star Wars, and later, Mel Brooks, not produced a hilarious parody in Space Balls, then perhaps Elon wouldn’t have taken the path he did, or perhaps his great ideas would be stored in a filing cabinet and not flying around space, one day soon, to take us to the moon. Without dreamers like Michio, perhaps the next generation of Elon’s would not be inspired.

Most importantly for your own success, be your own inspiration and believe that you can achieve what you set out to do. Build your vision, commit and execute.

I hope you enjoyed this blog and perspective, and do watch the podcasts from Lex with Michio and Elon. They inspired me and I hope they inspire you too.

Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed the post please feel free to comment and share, and if you’d like to talk about Vision and Execution, lets connect.

Joel

Credits:

Lex Fridman for an incredible podcast and interview style. – https://lexfridman.com/

The photo of Elon Musk: Creator: James Duncan Davidson Credit: James Duncan Davidson Copyright: CC BY-NC 3.0

The Photo of Michio Kaku: Creator: Cristiano Sant’Anna